Kimi Robinson, Girl Reporter
Kimi Robinson, Girl Reporter is a story written by Jenny Williams. Story Chapter 1 Andrew was the first one to notice an odd girl come to the table he and his friends were sitting at. The girl had a notebook and a clipboard. She had long pink hair and blue eyes. She wore a pink shirt and a blue skirt and had a pencil behind her ear. The girl came over to Andrew's lunch table and plopped herself down right beside Andrew’s friends, Jimmy and Leigh. From the looks of it, she looked like she was in a reporter mood. "Who is this important-looking pink-haired girl?" thought Andrew. But without even saying a simple hello, the girl began to introduce herself. "Kimi Robinson, Girl Reporter," said the girl. "What's the scoop?" "Um…Chocolate?" asked Andrew. "No…vanilla. Uh, no, strawberry. Peach? Cherry? Rocky road?" "No, no, no," said the girl. “Not the ice cream kind of scoop. The story kind of scoop. I'm a reporter, like Jennie Irene Mix, who was a well-known woman reporter in the early 1920s." Andrew couldn't believe his ears. He leaned in closer so he could listen a little better. "Really?" asked Jimmy. "That's right," said the girl as she wrote something on her clipboard. "I'm a reporter for the school newspaper. Can I ask you a few questions?" "You have your own paper?" asked Leigh. "Sure!" said the girl. Then she picked up a ketchup bottle and held it over her mouth like she was talking into a microphone. "What's your favorite school lunch?" she asked. "Quesadilla pizza, popcorn chicken, or French toast sticks?" "French toast is only for breakfast," said Andrew as he rolled his eyes. "Any moron with half a brain should know that." "Oh, I love quesadilla pizza and popcorn chicken!" said Jimmy. "And I like French toast sticks," said Leigh. "I pack my own lunch," said Andrew. "Check!" said the girl as she checked the paper on her clipboard. "And how many times do you think the school should serve pizza, French toast sticks, or popcorn chicken?" "Three," said Leigh. "Five!" said Jimmy. "Every day! As long as the pizza has extra cheese." "Check!" said the girl. Andrew was really confused. He didn't know who this pink-haired list-checking, clipboard-carrying reporter girl was, and he didn't know why his two best friends were talking to her if they didn't even know her. "You can't really get quesadilla pizza and popcorn chicken every day for lunch," said Andrew. "Why not?" asked the girl. "My mom knows the lunch ladies. Besides, it's a free country. Anyway, here's my third question. If there was anything you would like to change about Pleasant Hill Academy, what would it be?" "Well, I would put candy machines in the hallways and build a skate park outside of the school," said Leigh. "And I would build a swimming pool and ban School Picture Day!" said Jimmy. The girl reporter wrote as fast as Jimmy and Leigh talked. "If there was anything I would change about this school, it would be not having any reporter kids bugging us at lunchtime," muttered Andrew. By then, the girl stopped writing, but Andrew did not hear her say "Check!" In spite of himself, Andrew got caught up in the moment. "Okay, okay. I've got an idea for real this time!" he said. "If there was anything I'd change about school, it's that we would be allowed to chew gum in class!" "I agree," said Jimmy. "Me too!" said Leigh. "Check!" said the girl. "I could work on my gum collection at school," said Andrew. "I'll stick some of the chewed-up wads under my desk, so that the teacher won't notice. Besides, I already have a collection of chewed-up gum at home." The girl was writing again. She seemed a lot faster than Andrew thought. "I collect gum, too," she said. "I've been to the world's best-ever collection of chewed-up gum. The biggest in the world." "Huh?" asked Andrew. He wasn't quite sure what the girl meant. "It's true!" said the girl. "It's called Bubblegum Alley. It's in San Luis Obispo, California. I saw it on summer vacation. You walk down this alley between two buildings and there's a Wall of Gum on each side. Chewed-up gum that people stuck there. Some even made pictures and stuff out of gum. I chewed five gumballs from the machine they have there and added it to the wall." "What?" said Jimmy. "No way!" "Yes way!" said the girl. "It's almost like a Gum Hall of Fame. Or a Gum Wall of Fame." She laughed. "That's really cool!" said Leigh. "What a good waste of gum," muttered Andrew. "I'd sure like to see the Wall of Gum!" said Leigh. "I have a picture of me standing in front of it," said the girl. "It was in my last issue of the paper. See?" She pulled out a page from the back of the clipboard. "Whoa!" said Jimmy. "Weird. Look at all that chewed-up gum!" "Wow," said Leigh. "You really were there!" "Thanks for your ideas," said the girl. "I've got to talk to Miss Goodman." "Miss Goodman? That's our social studies teacher!" said Andrew. "I know. She has a big scoop for me." "Well, we already know that she's getting married," said Andrew. "Hmm, that's a good scoop!" said the girl. Andrew sat up a little taller, now feeling more interested in what this girl reporter had to say. "Wait!" said Leigh. "I have one more question for you." "Okay," said the girl. "What do you have to say?" "Do real reporters wear pencils in their ears?" asked Leigh. "Well, some do," said the girl. "It's just to keep their pencils safe." "Okay," said Leigh. "That's all I needed to know." "Check!" said the girl. She looked at her watch. "Well, it looks like I'm out of time for you guys. I'm outta here. Later, alligators!" Then she tucked her pencil behind her ear, got up from her seat, and walked off. "Wow!" said Leigh as she saw the girl walk away. "Kimi Robinson sure is a neat reporter! She also has something in common with you, Andrew!" "Does she?" asked Andrew. "Sure she does!" said Jimmy. "She likes chewing gum and collecting chewed-up gum wads, just like you!" "Yeah, I know," said Andrew a little sarcastically. "But even though we have something in common, I don't think I know her that well." "Well, maybe you should spend a little time with her and get to know her a little more," said Jimmy. "Maybe you two might have something in common." "Maybe she likes aliens, race cars, jokes, hot sauce, and swimming, just like you," said Leigh. "We should ask her." "And she says weird things all the time, like 'check'," added Jimmy. "What are you talking about?" asked Andrew. "I don't say weird stuff all the time." "Well, you can't judge someone by the way they look and act," said Jimmy. "I don't know about that..." muttered Andrew. Chapter 2 Andrew was practicing juggling his soccer ball on the soccer field when he saw the same pink-haired reporter girl come up to him. "Hi!" she said. "Remember me from yesterday?" "Yeah," said Andrew with a skeptical look on his face. "Your name's Andrew, right?" said Kimi. "What's your last name? I want to put your idea of chewing gum in school in my paper." Trivia Category:Stories